Better Representation at Senior Level Can Lead to Complacency

Male-dominated organizations with better representation of women in their senior ranks as compared to their peers might unintentionally overlook gender diversity at more junior levels, researchers Priyanka Dwivedi and Lionel Paolella write in the Academy of Management Journal.

That is because when progress toward more equal gender representation is visible in leadership, organizations may become less concerned about diversity efforts firm-wide. This complacency can lead to fewer resources being devoted to mitigating gender biases in recruiting and hiring at all levels. This tendency harms not only the female candidates who don’t get the jobs; it also harms the firms who don’t get the female candidates.  

The harm to the firm’s diversity from such complacency can be cumulative. That is because when fewer entry-level positions are offered to women, an even lower proportion of female candidates are likely to accept. The effect can be cumulative, with fewer and fewer women joining the firm and its pipeline to future promotion, Dwivedi and Paolella write.

To counter this tendency, the researchers suggest implementing and consistently maintaining a holistic diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) plan firm-wide. They also found that appointing female employees to hiring and diversity committees helps—although they acknowledged that such service can take female employees’ time and energy away from work that contributes more to future promotions.

Photo by Arthur S Siegel, 1942 (Library of Congress)

DEI must be considered as more than a public relations tool for these efforts to succeed. While the researchers focused on data from law firms, the gender demographics are similar in architecture. In 2023, 39 percent of attorneys were female while 36 percent of licensed architects identified as female.

Women in architecture are less well-represented in leadership positions than they are in the profession as a whole. Firms that buck this trend can congratulate themselves before actively—and continuously—taking steps to replicate their successes throughout the firm hierarchy. Gender biases are so deeply engrained in our society that even when we celebrate successes, we must guard against complacency.

Read more about mitigating gender bias in recruiting, hiring, pay, and promotion.

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